New Zealand has missed the bus on TPP

The Government appears to have failed to deliver in the secretive TPP deal, with no meaningful gains for dairy and new costs for Pharmac, Labour’s Acting Leader Annette King says.

“Tim Groser has been left in the dust on this deal despite the big promises made of a “gold standard agreement’. The deal falls well below expectations with only disappointing crumbs for our dairy industry and extended patents on new drugs which will cost the taxpayer millions and leave New Zealanders without life-saving drugs.

“If the best Tim Groser can say is it sets a ‘direction of travel’ then it looks like a failure. We’ve missed the bus on our biggest export.

“The government must come clean now on what ‘ugly compromises’ they have made behind closed doors.

“The devil is definitely in the detail in these agreements. New Zealanders must be told whether the government has traded away our right to further restrict foreign ownership of housing or farm land and what agreements have been made to allow foreign corporations to sue New Zealand for regulating in the public interest.

“The Canadian and US Governments are planning long and open debates in their parliaments over the details of the deal. New Zealand’s Government must commit to the same – an open consultation with public and a full parliamentary debate including the complete text of the agreement.

“Labour supports free trade, but the TPPA is more than just a trade agreement. We have been very clear that we will not support it if it does not meet our bottom lines including meaningful gains for farmers, the ability to restrict house and land sales, protecting Pharmac and the ability to govern in the interests of New Zealanders,” Annette King says.